Wrench.



L. ROTH.

WRENCH.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 30, 1914.

Patented Feb. 16, 1915.

ATTORNEY.

LUDWIG ROTH, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

WRENCHL Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb, f6, 1915.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LUDWIG Born, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Wrenches, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention has relation to improvements in wrenches; and it consistsin the novel features of construction more fully set forth in thespecification and pointed. out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of the wrench with partsbroken away; Fig. 2 is an edge view thereof, with part of the handleportion broken away; Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line 3-3 of Fig.1; and F l is alongitudinal. middle section of the jaw-adjusting nut,detached.

The object of my invention is to construct a quick-adjustment nut wrench(though its principle of construction may likewise be applied to pipewrenches) which will be simple in construction; one which can be readilymanipulated; one which has a firm and positive grip on the nut and willnot slip; and one possessing further and other advantages betterapparent from a detailed description of the invention, which is asfollows Referring to the drawings, 1 represents a lever, the sameconstituting the shank of the tool, and terminating at one end in ahandle 2 and at the opposite end in a fixed or stationary jaw 3. Thecross-section of the shank is substantially oblong as usual, the shankbeing traversed by the movable or sliding jaw fl. In the presentembodiment of my invention the jaw 4 is provided with a socket ascrew-threaded interiorly, the socket opening toward the handle 2. Thesocket receives the adjacent end of an adjusting nut 5 whose peripheralwalls at said end are screw-threaded to engage the screwthreaded portionof the socket of the sliding jaw, the surface of the nut beingpreferably milled or roughened for purposes of easy manipulation as wellunderstood in the art. The inner wall of the nut 5 is provided with aspiral rib or thread 6 which engages the high pitched spiral grooves 7formed along the narrow faces of the shank 1, the pitch of the grooves 7being substantially a one-inch pitch. On the other hand the pitch of theouter screw-threads t of the nut 5 and of the walls of the socket a is alow one, this differential in the pitches between the two screwformations being availed of in the operation of the tool.

The operation of the tool is substantially as follows: It will be seenthat by rotating the adjusting nut 5 in proper direction the same willscrew or travel along the high pitch spiral formed by the grooves 7,toward the fixed jaw 3, carrying the sliding jaw 4 with it, in whichrotation it will partially screw into the socket a of said jaw In thisway the jaw 4: may be brought up against a nut a engaged by the fixed aw8 as shown in Fig. 1, whereupon the nut may be readily turned ormanipulated by the wrench. In turning the nut a a pressure will ofcourse be exerted against the jaw 4 tending to force the jaw away fromthe jaw 3, and were the nut 5 to slip, a parting of the jaws 8, 4, wouldresult. For the nut 5 to slip on the shank 1, it would be obliged toturn in a direction to unscrew along the spiral 7, 7, that'is to say, totravel toward the handle 2. The turning of the nut 5 however in thedirection specified is prevented by the resistance offered thereto bythe low-pitched screw threads 6 of the nut, and of the socket a of themovable jaw, such resistance resulting from the tendency of the jaw 4 tomove toward the aw 3 with any tendency on the part of the nut 5 i toturn in the direction aforesaid, it being obvious that with a turn ofthe nut 5 in one direction, the jaw 4: is pushed away from the nut, andwith a turn of the nut in the opposite direction the jaw is drawn towardthe nut (the two members being screwed to one another). It follows fromthe foregoing that the low-pitch threaded portions t of the jaw 4: andsocket a are instrumental in preventing the slipping of the adjustingnut 5 along the shank 1 in the normal operation of the tool. To releasethe nut a (or bolt head should the wrench be applied to a bolt) theoperator rotates the adjusting nut 5 in the opposite direction so as toslide down the shank 1 toward the handle 2 when it will. carry the jaw iwith it, the nut 5 in that movement being of course partly unscrewedfrom the socket a, into which it is however screwed with a reverserotation of the member 5, the length of the shank 1.

being such as to prevent the members a, 5, from becoming uncoupled, themember 5 not making a suificient number of turns to unscrew itself fromthe socket a.

The tool while primarily intended for turning nuts, may be used forturning pipes, bolts, and other mechanical devices to which a wrench mayordinarily be applied.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A wrench comprising a shank polygonal in cross-section andterminating at one end in a handle, and at the opposite end in a fixedjaw, a sliding aw on the shank provided with a screw threaded portionfarthest removed from the fixed jaw, the screwthread being of lowpitch,-a nut passed over and rotatable about the shank and terminatingat one end in a threaded portion engaging the screw-threaded portion ofthe sliding jaw, a series of grooves on a portion of the faces of theshank disposed along a high pitch spiral inclined in the same directionas the low pitch screw, and an inner spiral rib on the nut engaging saidgrooves.

2. A wrench comprising a shank substantially oblong in cross-section andterminating at. one end in a handle and at the opposite end in a fixedjaw, a sliding jaw on the shank provided with an interiorlyscrewthreaded socket facing the handle, the screw being of low pitch, anut passed over and rotatable about the shank and terminating at one endin a peripheral screw-threaded portion engaging the screw-threadedportion of the socket of the sliding jaw, a series of grooves on thenarrow faces of the shank disposed along a high pitch spiral inclined inthe same direction as the low pitch screw, and an inner spiral rib onthe nut engaging said grooves.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

LUDWIG ROTH. Witnesses:

EMIL STAREK, Jos. A. MICHEL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

